California Insider

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Sacramento Bee Columnist Daniel Weintraub

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June 29, 2003

Context is everything

Since May 1, when President Bush declared major fighting had ended in Iraq, 23 American soldiers have been killed by hostile fire. This sounds bad, and it’s certainly tragic for those of our soldiers who have met this fate. But I wish some numbers were available somewhere on the general state of crime in Iraq at this point. Because while I could be wrong, I have a hunch that it might actually be safer in Baghdad right now than in California. Here in the state that is famously “roughly the size of Iraq,” we have an average of 5 homicides a day (that would be about 300 since May 1). We also have 18 reported rapes per day, 134 robberies, 258 assaults, 395 motor vehicle thefts and 27 arsons. Match that, Mesopotamia.

PS: I’ve also crunched the numbers on a population-adjusted basis, given that California’s 35-million population is about a third larger than Iraq’s. The adjusted numbers for California: 3.6 murders per day, 13 rapes, 95 robberies, 183 assaults, 281 vehicle thefts, and 19 arsons. Based on 2002 crime figures reported by the attorney general’s office.

UPDATE: Ok, here's another view of Iraqi lawlessness, from the New York Times. Chilling, but still anecdotal. Click here. Free registration required, but you can use mine: californiainsid/insider